The following article is a list of characters from the manga series Tokyo Ghoul.
Main characters
Played by: Masataka Kubota
The main protagonist of the story, is an eighteen-year-old black haired university freshman that receives an organ transplant from Rize, who was trying to kill him before she was struck by a fallen I-beam and seemingly killed. After the operation Kaneki develops ghoul-like tendencies and characteristics, and his rationality begins to wane. As one that now doesn't belong to humans or ghouls he struggles to keep his ghoul identity secret, always fighting against his ghoul side while trying to continue to live like a normal human. He later works as a waiter for Anteiku under Yoshimura's guidance. After his fight with a CCG investigator named Amon he gains the name Eye Patch (眼帯) because of his mask's design and becomes somewhat famous after a ghoul saw him defeating the investigator. He loves to read and is normally quiet and reserved but can also be calculating when fighting. He has a bad trait of easily trusting strangers which sometimes puts him in life-threatening situations. After being kidnapped by the ghoul run organization known as Aogiri Tree, he is mercilessly tortured by a sadistic ghoul named Yakumo Ōmori (Yamori), and later develops similar traits to his torturer. While being tortured he has hallucinations of Rize in which she mocks him about his mother, leading to him finally embracing his inner ghoul. In the manga at chapter 61, Kaneki's hair slowly changes color from black to white. In the anime, Tokyo ghoul, his hair changes instantly after eating Rize and accepting his ghoul side. He then goes on and eats his torturer, Yakumo Ōmori. His view on strength changes and he goes on a power hungry path by cannibalizing other ghouls in order to get stronger. The continued cannibalization led him to become a half kakuja, where he develops a centipede shaped kagune and gains the alias Centipede (百足). After the incident at Kanō's Lab, Kaneki begins to regret this path and begins reflecting on his actions and motives.
After being defeated and captured by Arima, Ken loses his memories and is given the new identity of , member and ace of the Mado Squad, and mentor of the Quinx Squad, a special unit composed of artificial ghouls. Despite having a new identity, Haise still retains some traits from his former self, like the love for reading and the determination to protect his companions with his life. When pressured to the limit, Haise has glimpses of his former self and unlocks his powers as a ghoul, forcing the CCG to strike him with RC suppressors to calm him down. Haise usually has an internal conflict with his past self, fearing that one day he would lose his current life with all his new friends and personality, which intensifies as he obtains more information about his former life until the raid at the Tsukiyama Headquarters, when he finally regains his memories and accepts his identity as Kaneki, not only showing a ruthless demeanor when facing his enemies, but a cold attitude toward his current and former allies as well. Haise's achievements allow him to quickly climb among the CCG's ranks, being promoted to First Class after the raid at the human auction and receiving a special promotion to Associate Special Class after single-handedly driving away the One-Eyed Owl during the raid at the Tsukiyama Headquarters, becoming known as the , until he betrays the CCG to help Tōka rescue Hinami from the Cochlea, releasing the other ghouls imprisoned there in the occasion. After Kaneki defeats Arima, he claims for himself the title of , who according to Eto, has the potential to break the current status quo between ghouls and humans. For that purpose, he assembles the surviving members of Aogiri, the inmates from Cochlea rescued by him, several rogue CCG Investigators, and his old friends from Anteiku into a new organization called "Goat" which hopes to bring peace between humans and ghouls. After his fight with Juzo, he lost all his limbs and after all of his personalities argue about what to do, he consumes all the oggai squad (a new group of artificial ghouls made by Kano) and becomes a giant mass of kagune. He was later rescued by Tōka and the members of the Quinx squad. After regaining consciousness, he reunited with his best friend, Hideyoshi, whom he thought was dead.